Until the truth comes out

Dear Editor:

It’s a “justice delayed” kinda Friday…Emmet Till was brutally killed in 1955…I am sure that each of you is familiar with the circumstances of the case so I won’t rehash the details here…it took until 2004 for the responsibility for his death to be finally established…only 49 years for the truth behind the death of a teenage boy to be completely and finally revealed…of course, by then the two men responsible had died of natural causes…what’s the big deal? Emmet Till was just another “throw away N-word” from Chicago…why didn’t we just let sleeping dogs lie?…

There had been a local investigation, a local trial and an acquittal…never mind that not all witnesses were allowed to testify and the case turned on the assertion of the prosecution that the body of the boy was actually that of a white person…never mind that despite an interview published in LOOK magazine (remember that one?) in which the killer admitted his actions, the verdict came back NOT GUILTY…you gotta love the “good ole boy” network…

Thankfully, there were those who were not content to let “the system” get away with this…with enough squeezing over the years, eventually all the toothpaste was out of the tube and the truth was revealed…justice, such as it is, was delayed but not denied!…

Medger Evers was killed in 1963…as with Emmet Till no one needs a rehearsal of the facts of the case…of course everyone knew who killed Evers… there was even a local trial…not surprisingly, there was no conviction…after all, Medger Evers was just another trouble making, “throw away N-word“…you gotta love the “good ole boy” network…

Because someone cared enough to keep squeezing, all the toothpaste was once again out of the tube…in 1994 there was a “new” trial not governed by the locals and their “good ole boy” network…there was a conviction!! it only took 31 years for justice to prevail…it was justice delayed but not denied…

In 2007 William Scozzari was shot 5 times by a local police officer…he died!!…Michael Conway’s letter to editor suggests that we should leave it there…enough is enough is his contention…I do not know Mr. Conway but I respect his opinion and wish in my heart that I could concur with him…I don’t want the the police to be wrong! I don’t want the system to fail us! I don’t want to be at the mercy of the “good ole boy” network!…

But not enough toothpaste has been squeezed out of the tube to reveal all of the truth…a man is dead!!…that alone warrants a better effort from the authorities than we have seen…Mr. Conway tells us that the case was “thoroughly investigated by the Michigan State Police”; yet, it took over 4 years for the MSP to interview two of the eye witnesses at the scene…curious, isn’t it? what else did they not do?…

Mr. Conway also tells us that the prosecutor determined that the actions of the police officers were justified…that is the opinion of one man (a member of “the system“) who has been unable to get re-elected to anything since that time; that is hardly the review of a criminal jury, a grand jury or a board of inquiry…Mr. Conway also objects to the actions of “some liberally appointed judge (lawyer)” who was presented with enough factual evidence that he determined a new trial was warranted…

I wish I could agree with Mr. Conway that enough is enough…sadly, we have not yet heard the “whole truth and nothing but the truth” because of the three people involved in the incident, one is dead and the other two are not forthcoming…I would like to hear what one officer experienced that prompted him to shoot William Scozzari 5 times (Google it! that is almost unheard of in police activity) while the other officer was not prompted to shoot him even once…

I would like to hear why the officers were not skilled enough to hold a man who was 5’3″, 110 pounds, blind in one eye, walked with a cane and was known to be mentally ill at bay until backup arrived…I would like to know why the officers on the scene interfered with the immediate application of medical assistance; at least one Medical Physician testified that such medical attention could have saved Mr. Scozzari’s life…

I want the police to be right!! but we don’t know enough to say it is so…a man is dead and so far no one has adequately explained why it had to happen and why it happened as it did…I don’t want to live where we have to fear the tyranny of those selected to protect us…I don’t want to live where the prosecutors, judges and other authorities are part of a network that takes care of its own at the expense of society at large…I don’t want to live where the mentally ill are treated as the “n-words” of our society and so their death doesn’t matter…

I want all the toothpaste to be squeezed out of the tube so we can restore our faith in those who are privileged to “serve and protect”…it may take 49 years as it did with Emmet Till….it may take 31 years as it did with Medgar Evers…it may only take 1 year and we will all be satisfied with the truth…unlike Mr, Conway, I am not content to let “sleeping dogs lie” or “lying dogs sleep”…

Mr. Conway, you asked “when will it be enough?”…it will be enough when the truth is told fully and completely…the real question should be, why aren’t more of the citizens of our community troubled by one of their fellows being shot and killed on the streets of Clare and no one seems to care?…the ducks on pond live with integrity toward one another…and Mother Parker says I sure hope they are serving my brew at the local bakery.

PS — Mr. Conway, thank you for your point of view; I do respect it despite our disagreement!…but please check your facts before you attempt a slur on the judge that ordered a new trial…you call him a “liberally appointed judge (lawyer)” as if that derogatory implication should sway your readers…in fact, the Honorable Thomas L. Ludington was nominated by President George W. Bush (not exactly a liberal) in 2002 and was commissioned in 2006 (still during President Bush’s administration)…I respect your politics but would prefer that they are based on fact and not on incendiary emotion.